Greater Chennai Corporation unveils first Climate Budget, plans ₹7,200 crore climate outlay

Chennai’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2050 are projected to increase by nearly four times over 2018 levels — to 55.08 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e) — if no additional mitigation measures are implemented, according to the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) ‘Climate Budget’ report.

To address this, the report released on Monday stated that the GCC had identified projects at an estimated cost of ₹7,200.53 crore, which is the cumulative expenditure required to plan, construct, and complete these activities over multiple financial years.

The report will be available on the official website of the civic body.

The report is among the announcements made by Mayor R. Priya in her Budget speech in 2025. Notably, for FY 2025-26, the GCC has earmarked ₹3,190.61 crore towards capital expenditure, of which ₹1,341.2 crore (42.04%) has been identified as climate-relevant spending, the report said.

This inaugural Climate Budget report has been prepared by the GCC’s Financial Management Unit (FM Unit) with support from C40 Cities.

It spans 10 key departments within the GCC and integrates climate budgeting into the civic body’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, enabling systematic tracking of climate-related expenditure and strengthening institutional accountability, according to the Corporation.

According to the Chennai City Climate Action Plan (CCAP) released earlier, the average annual maximum temperatures could increase by 4.4°C and annual rainfall could rise by up to 27% by 2050. Sea levels are projected to rise by 0.11 metres by 2030 and 0.37 metres by 2050. For addressing this, the GCC aims for carbon neutrality and ‘water balance’ by 2050, the report said.

Targets for 2050

Specific targets for 2050 include a 100% renewable power for the grid, complete electrification of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus fleet, and fully decentralised waste processing. By 2050, the Corporation also intends to have all of the properties equipped with rainwater harvesting systems and all disaster relief centres rendered climate-resilient. In the FY 2025-26 Budget, allocations for urban flooding and water scarcity management accounted for ₹834.75 crore (62.24%), the report noted. Apart from this, major ongoing projects include the construction of 1,168 km of storm-water drains across nine zones, designed to handle rainfall of 68-72 mm per hour, at a cost of ₹5,553.3 crore.

Waste management initiatives received ₹350.81 crore (26.15%), focusing on the reclamation of legacy waste through biomining at the Kodungaiyur (₹640.83 crore) and Perungudi (₹347.67 crore) dump yards.

Current project statuses indicate that phase two construction of the model and smart schools with energy-efficient designs is 10% physically complete and slated for conclusion in June 2026, the report said.

The restoration of the Kadapakkam Lake to double its water capacity is in progress. New initiatives in the planning stage include the establishment of rainwater harvesting systems at all GCC parks and plastic baling centres in 10 zones, the report added.